


A Little Reminder That I'll Never Forget

by el_gilliath



Series: The Cowboy Vigilante [4]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angry Alex, Angst, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mentions of Alcohol Consumption, Pre-Slash, Very Angry Alex, Vigilante AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 22:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21435367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/el_gilliath/pseuds/el_gilliath
Summary: He doesn’t have it in him to be mad at Maria, even though he’s fairly sure she knew that Kyle was the doctor Super’s were using when their healer(which by the way is pretty cool) isn’t there. She doesn’t know everything, just that they had a falling out. He never wanted to tell her, so she would keep her friendship with Kyle.
Relationships: Hints of Maria/Isobel/Rosa, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: The Cowboy Vigilante [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1436755
Comments: 21
Kudos: 93





	A Little Reminder That I'll Never Forget

**Author's Note:**

> This directly follows Cold War. And Alex is very angry at Kyle. Very. Angry.
> 
> Other than that, Welcome back to the continued adventures of Cowboy and Reporter Manes

He doesn’t have it in him to be mad at Maria, even though he’s fairly sure she knew that Kyle was the doctor Super’s were using when their healer(which by the way is pretty cool) isn’t there. She doesn’t know everything, just that they had a falling out. He never wanted to tell her, so she would keep her friendship with Kyle. 

And she did, by the way he moves around the backroom as if he’s used to being there, fishing out equipment, gauze and plasters as he needs them, moving things easily aside to get to deposits of medical gear Alex wouldn’t know was there if he didn’t see it. 

It’s eerie, watching him. Like a blast from the past he doesn’t know if he’s comfortable with. Especially when it comes to a Super. To Cowboy. 

He still remembers Kyle talking to him in the hospital, about a month after he lost his leg, telling him that his obsession with Super’s was unnatural. That they were unnatural. And here he is patching up one. 

And not just anyone, the one Alex will admit having a rapid pulse for, if he’s being honest. 

“Alex? You okay?”

He feels more than sees Kyle freeze at Isobel’s question. After 25 years of being best friends he doesn’t need to see Kyle’s reactions, he knows them in his core. 

“I’m fine.” He wait until Kyle is looking at him. “Though I’m curious how you found this guy.”

“What?” Maria asks puzzled. “You know how we know Kyle.”

“Yeah, I do. How long have you been working for my dad, Kyle?”

He should’ve expected the commotion that follows that question. Maria gapes at him, Rosa swears in Spanish, and Influence steps in front of Cowboy with a truly impressive flair of her cape, her lips curling up into a snarl. Kyle just stares at him, before he moves his gaze back to what he can see of Cowboy behind Influence. 

“What is he talking about, Valenti?” Influence asks as Kyle takes a step towards Cowboy. She’s in protective mode, something Kyle obviously recognizes. 

“Alex thinks I betrayed him two years ago and sides with his dad, after he lost his leg.”

“Think? You told me Supers and vigilantes shouldn’t be allowed on the streets, that they were blights on the earth and I was stupid for defending them!”

“You lost your _leg_, Alex. Lost it for a vendetta your dad had against you and everyone else that supported vigilantes. I told you that so you would stop hacking and get out of trouble. Instead you turn around and run head first into it at the Times!”

“Did you really expect me to just give in to my dad, Kyle?” He asks. He knows his voice is low, dangerous, too much like his dad for him to be comfortable with. But he doesn’t care, he’s too mad. 

“Well I hoped, Alex! But can we can this discussion so I can take care of my patient now?!”

Isobel’s eyes slide over to him. He doesn’t know what to tell her, but he also knows Cowboy needs medical attention. He nods, and Influence steps back. Thankfully Kyle wastes no time in moving to Michael and looking him over. 

Alex just watches him, taking in how gentle he is with Cowboy, how he murmurs and explains as he moves along, regardless if Cowboy can hear him or not. Kyle moves like he always does, professionally and quickly, patching Cowboy up where he can and leaving the long gash in his shoulder alone. 

“You need to get Electrobuzz to heal that up, there’s not much more I can do with what I have here,” Kyle tells Isobel as he cleans the gash. It’s obviously made by a knife and explains why Cowboy was trapped, Alex has seen his powers fritz out when he’s been hurt before.

“Wait, Electrobuzz? He’s your healer?”

“He is,” Isobel replies, glaring daggers at Kyle who has the decency to look slightly shamed. “You weren’t exactly supposed to know that.”

“I’m not gonna tell, I still call him Writer, remember?”

“Oh yes, the name he picked himself. To bad Electrobuzz fits better.”

Alex can't refute that, Electrobuzz does fit the lightning based Super better. But he gets all pouty if no one calls him Writer, which is what he wanted to be called, so Alex does him a solid and calls him Writer. He hates when the Super’s are upset, New York usually suffers for it too. 

“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that Alex didn't know since he seems to know everything. But Cowboy is fine for now, so you should all let him get some rest,” Kyle says, and Alex can’t help but look over at Cowboy. He’s lying on the backroom table, seemingly sleeping peacefully. “I’ll monitor until Electrobuzz gets here.”

“No.” The answer is so quick out of his mouth that he has trouble remembering he said it. “I’m not leaving you alone with him.”

The room quietens, as they all turn to look at him. Everyone besides Kyle. “Alex-“

“You think I’m gonna leave you alone with someone you told me you despise? Not happening, Kyle.”

“I’m a doctor, I wouldn’t hurt him!”

“Maybe not, but I still don’t trust you. I’m not leaving you alone with him.” He sees the hurt bloom in Kyle, in the way his shoulders tighten, in the way his arms tense. He refuses to feel bad for it, even when Kyle’s eyes meet his and he can see just how much Kyle tries to hide that he’s hurt. But that’s the problem, Kyle could never really hide anything from him.

“I’ll stay with him,” Influence says. “The two of you need to have a chat.”

“We don’t.”

“Yes, Alex, you do. Kyle has been the doctor everyone goes to for over a year, and you’re the reporter everyone turns to.” Influence strokes her hand lightly over Cowboy’s curls. “The vigilantes trust both of you equally, do **not** make me tell them they’re all wrong. I will not like it.”

“Alex, let me explain. Please?”

He doesn’t want to. The thought of being alone with Kyle after the last time makes his skin crawl. It makes his anxiety flare, it makes his insecurities rise, it makes his muscles tense. He’s spent far too much time making everyone believe he doesn’t have anxiety or insecurities or tensing muscles to let Kyle Manuel Valenti get the better of him.

“Fine. But in the bar, right now I don’t want to be alone with you either,” Alex answers, turning to walk out the door before he can change his mind. “Maria, you mind if I take the good tequila?”

“Go ahead honey, you know where to find it,” she says as he walks out the door. He doesn’t check to see if Kyle is behind, he just enters the bar and fishes out the half-full Patrón Añejo Maria keeps hidden away just for him. He knows Maria and Rosa followed him into the bar, but are staying in a booth so he and Kyle can have some privacy while they talk. 

He does get Kyle a glass as well when he sees that he has indeed followed; Kyle’s taste for good tequila is as legendary as his own. 

He might be pissed at Kyle, but he’s not a douchebag. Well. Most of the time anyway.

“Talk, Valenti. You have until the end of this bottle.”

He doesn’t expect Kyle to start talking straight away, and he doesn’t either. Instead Alex watches as he takes a shot, then another. He gets it, he would be nervous too if he was Kyle.

“I’m sorry.”

Alex takes his own shot, and refills both his and Kyle’s glass. “Why?”

“I don’t know Alex, because I hurt you? Because I made you believe I agreed with your father?” Kyle takes a deep breath. “Because I acted like a douchebag and lost my best friend. And now you don’t trust me because of it.”

“Can you blame me? I had just woken up from a coma Kyle, I just lost my leg and here is my best friend, the doctor I needed to support me, telling me that I was a stupid obsessive idiot! I was in pain, I was _broken_ by my father, I didn’t need you fucking me over too!”

“I was trying to protect you, Alex!” Kyle yells back. “You almost _died_ on a crusade to get back at your dad, the only reason I said that was so you wouldn’t go running off again!”

“Fuck you, Kyle. You know nothing about my dad.”

“The fuck I don’t Alex, we grew up together, of course I know.”

“Do you?” Alex asks incredulously. “Do you know he beat me almost every day since I was 12 because he wanted to beat the gay out of me? That he forced me into training scenarios specifically designed to make me puke and bleed whenever I so much as looked at a guy?”

He takes a deep breath. “That he hates the ground I walk on and has told me to my face that he wish I was dead?”

“Alex…”

“I needed my best friend Kyle. Instead you betrayed me.”

“I didn’t-“

“Yes, Kyle,” Alex interrupts. “You did. To me, that is exactly what you did.”

“I was _scared_, Alex.” Kyle pauses, and Alex has to strain to hear his next words. “At least by pretending to side with your dad, I knew you were going to survive.”

“I didn’t survive. I floundered, I cried, I was so depressed I couldn’t get out of bed. If you call that surviving, then we have two very different meanings of the word.” He takes a shot, then refills his glass and does another one. “I didn’t start surviving again until Arturo gave me the job at the Times. That gave me meaning, hope.”

He looks Kyle directly in the eyes. “You didn’t.”

He knows he’s being harsh, he knows telling Kyle all of this probably hurts him. But Kyle’s motto has always been ‘Do No Harm’. He didn’t keep it so right now Alex is going to say whatever he wants too. Though he is secretly glad Kyle isn’t having any more of the tequila, should something happen. 

“I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“Did you? Or did you let my dad get into your head? You wouldn’t be the first,” Alex replies.

“How the hell can you ask me that?” Kyle asks, eyes finally burning with a responding anger. Good. “I might not know everything that happened in that house and everything he did to you, but I know enough to know that I should never listen to him. I told you, I was scared.”

“So you thought you would use my dad’s tactics to get me to stop.”

“Yeah.” Kyle exhales angrily. “And that was my mistake, I get it. But you didn’t have to just drop me either!”

Alex stills, turning his head slowly and cocking it slightly sideways as he looks at Kyle. He sees the way Kyle freeze, knows he recognizes it. It was a move his mother used to do when she was angry, a move he’s done since he was a teenager. Another reason for his father to hate him.

“Shit, Alex, that was not-”

“Drop you? You think _I_ dropped _you_?”

“No, that’s-”

“You walked into my room, told me that I should _stop_ whatever I was doing against my father, told me to _stop_ helping vigilantes. Do _not_ tell me I dropped you.”

“I know, Alex. I know. I just...” Kyle pause, takes a deep breath and meets Alex’s eyes straight on. “I thought it would blow over. I figured I would give you some time and then call and talk to you. I didn’t think I had screwed up that badly until I tried to call and my number was blocked. Until I tried to text you on WhatsApp and I couldn’t. Until I noticed you deleted me from Facebook. That’s when I knew how angry you were and that what I said to you might have done more bad than good.”

Alex stays silent. The last of the Patron is in his glass, he can feel the alcohol swimming pleasantly in his belly, his anger still there but sated, for now.

“I’m sorry,” Kyle says. “I’m really sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean to hurt you, and if I thought you wanted me to I would’ve found you and apologized before this. But I’m fairly sure you didn’t.”

“You’re right. I don’t know if I want your apology now,” Alex replies, taking the last shot. “But I will accept it.”

“Thank you. And I… I don’t know if this means anything to you, but I was so proud when you got the job at the Times. Like maybe you finally found a place you could call home, away from your dad. At least I hope you did.”

He inclines his head towards Kyle, more of an acceptance than he wants to vocalize right now before he turns and walks back to the backroom, giving Maria and Rosa a slight smile as he walks past. He knows they’ve been listening from the smiles they direct his way. He just wants to be back in Cowboy’s presence, hurt as he might be. Seeing him still alive will help calm him down, maybe even make him feel better. He hears Influence’s voice as he nears the door, opening it with a flourish of the slightly tipsy in the good way.

He does not expect to be met with 6 feet of Electrobuzz leaning over Cowboy with a glowing hand. His outfit is understated as it always is, blue jeans and a brown leather jacket over his shoulders, his brown mask that matches the jacket on his face. There’s a pen lovingly stitched into the upper arm, the official symbol of The Writer. A smaller lightning bolt is on the collar of the jacket, probably sown in after people started calling him Electrobuzz.

“Alex Manes, meet Electrobuzz. Electrobuzz, Alex Manes,” Influence says, a bored tone in her voice as both men freeze. The glow in Electrobuzz’ hand fizzles out as the man looks over at Alex, his eyes narrowing and posture straightening.

“What is he doing here, Influence? And it’s Writer, please.”

Influence scoffs. “You and I both know the love and adorance these two have for each other, is it really that surprising that he’s here? And I told you, I needed him to get Cowboy out of the warehouse. Besides, he knows who I am.”

“He _knows_?”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, we’re not here for that. Now can you please put your glowy, healing hand on Cowboy?”

“Influence-”

“_Please_.”

Electrobuzz clenches his jaw, but the glow in his hand resumes and Alex takes a step forward but is shortly stopped by Influence.

“He knows what he’s doing.”

Alex swallows hard, but nods, trusting Influence and Electrobuzz with this man that has become so important in his life in a short amount of time. Electrobuzz gives Alex a tight nod in return, as he puts his glowing hand over the wound on Cowboy’s shoulder. It’s a tense few seconds before the glow intensifies, Electrobuzz yelling as the light bulb in Maria’s backroom shorts out. It takes everything Alex has to stay still, a little because he wants to check on Cowboy, a little because the healing is _fascinating_. He can see the flesh on Cowboy’s shoulder knit together, even through the glow. 

He’s even more fascinated when Electrobuzz moves back, the glow dying in his hand but a glowing handprint stays on Cowboy’s skin, the man gasping awake a few seconds later. Influence has moved over to Electrobuzz, helping him sit down as he breathes hard, a look of nausea on his face. 

“If you could refrain from getting hurt in the future, that would be super, Cowboy.” The dry tone from Electrobuzz makes Alex snort, as Cowboy groans on the table. 

“Come on man, it was an accident.”

“I’m sure it was. But going into that area without backup was still stupid. 

“Stop fucking preaching, man,” Cowboy says. “You’re making me look bad in front of Alex.”

Electrobuzz huffs while Influence just shakes her head. Which is when Liz Ortecho, scientist and little sister of Rosa, bursts through the door and goes over to Electrobuzz as soon as she sees him, running her fingers through his hair. 

Cowboy grumbles about how he’s the one being hurt to which Liz just gives him the stink eye . “We were on vacation and had to come back because you got hurt. I’m allowed to be a little angry.”

Alex just watches them as they bicker back and forth. It’s interesting to watch for many reasons, one is that he never really gets to see Cowboy interact with anyone but criminals. But it’s not what interests him the most. Because if Liz is here, running her hand through Electrobuzz’ hair in that loving way, that means Alex knows who he is too. 

“You know, Writer, it’s a little hypocritical of you to get mad at Cowboy for being where he was when you’re a Super in the NYPD.” He sees the way Electrobuzz freezes, sees Liz turn around and stare at him in shock, sees Influence cough to hide a laugh. “I should’ve know, if Isobel Evans is a Super then it’s not that strange that her brother is one either. Though I always thought you were such a goody two-shoes, glad to see I was wrong, Max.”

Electrobuzz slowly relaxes, shaking his head as he exhales roughly. He takes off the mask as Liz gets up from the floor, her eyes still wide. Max’s brown eyes looks up at him, his teeth practically grinding together. Alex only raises one single brow at the sight. Which makes Influence snort as she too removes her mask, Isobel’s green eyes meeting his a second later. Only Cowboy still has his mask on, which Alex doesn’t blame him for. It’s not time yet.

“I shouldn’t be surprised, you were always too smart, Alex,” Max says, his jaw unclenching and a wry smile coming upon his lips instead. Alex inclines his head, accepting the compliment. It’s not often anyone besides Liz Ortecho gets a compliment from Max, backhanded or otherwise.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell your secret either.” Alex smiles at him. “But I am gonna leave you alone. It seems you have things to talk about.”

He throws a salute at Max and Isobel, who both huffs at him. Liz just grins and mouths call me. Cowboy watched him with a soft smile on his face, nodding in both a thanks and goodbye as Alex turns around and walks out the door. He grins to himself as he hears Isobel laugh loudly and Max groan as the door closes.

—————

There’s a note on his desk when he gets into work the next morning. It’s a phone number, and written underneath is

_Call me _

_Cowboy _

And underneath that is an H.


End file.
